all that might come to be
by alinaandalion
Summary: Post-"The Nigerian Job." Nate and Hardison make arrangements for setting up the offices and start to establish their future working relationship. Written for Leverage Bingo. Prompt: The Nigerian Job.


Nate grabbed a glass and sat down at his table as he poured whiskey to right below the rim. He thought about offering Hardison a glass, but Hardison was already opening a bottle of orange soda; Nate didn't know where it had come from, but he wasn't going to ask questions.

"So, this is…nice," Hardison said as he sat down, craning his neck to look at the empty bottles and dirty clothes cluttering the floor.

"Haven't had time to clean," Nate replied in a terse tone.

"For two months, apparently," Hardison muttered as he lifted his soda to his lips. "So, what exactly am I doing here? I mean, I know we're all going to be working together or something, but I think we all figured you would, um, well, call us when we had a job."

Nate gulped down half his whiskey, barely grimacing at the initial burn. "I thought a base of operations would be useful. Somewhere we could hold briefings and plan."

"And you're telling me this because…"

"I want your help to set it up."

Hardison leaned back in his chair and took a long swig of soda as he mulled the thought over. What Nate was proposing would cost money. A lot of money if it was done properly. And despite the fact that he was now supremely wealthy, he didn't want to spend his cash on a bunch of dull offices. He had bigger plans for it than that.

"Saying that we do this, how are we funding it? Is everyone going to chip in?"

Nate laughed and shook his head. "I know better than to ask thieves to part with their cash. Especially Parker. No, I'll pay for it all."

"But, that's a huge chunk of change," Hardison said even as he leaned forward in interest. "I mean, why…"

"If we're going to work as a team, we're going to do it in a professional manner." Nate tossed back the rest of his whiskey and poured some more. "I'll set aside enough money to live on and give you what you need to buy whatever you want."

Hardison pulled out a notepad and pen. "Okay. So, do you have a place picked out for our base of operations? A specific building?"

Nate slid an address across the table to him and took a long sip of his drink. "L.A. That's the building. If you have any difficulties, let me know."

Nate stood up and walked off to his small kitchen area, leaving Hardison gaping at his back. Hardison put away his pad and pen and fidgeted a little before following after Nate.

"Is that it?" Hardison scratched at his chin and leaned against the wall. "You don't need anything else?"

"Unless you have questions, no," Nate said calmly.

Hardison cocked his head to the side. "Well, I do have one. I was doing some digging into everyone's background, and I noticed some interesting stuff about Sophie."

"Like what?"

"Just that she stole a lot of stuff from IYS clients. And that you investigated those thefts." Hardison shifted his feet a little and took a deep breath. "And, I guess just based on what I've seen, it looks like…"

Nate sighed and turned to face him. "What are you getting at, Hardison?"

"Did you have an affair or something with her? Because there's something going on between you two."

Nate stared at him coolly as he said, "That's none of your business."

"Yeah, I get that I'm prying a little…"

Nate cut him off. "But, for future reference, no, I did not have an affair with her and I'm not sleeping with her now. We have known each other for several years now, and that's all there is to it."

Hardison nodded his head and pushed off from the wall. "Right. Glad we, um, talked. I'm just going to head out now."

He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, heading for the door; the dark room was making him antsy with all the clutter piled up. He did not know how Nate managed to live like that, but the dude was a drunk and apparently a little crazy.

The second Hardison touched the doorknob, Nate said, "Oh, and I want all this done in two weeks."

Hardison stopped and turned to look at Nate who was still standing in the dark with his glass, and he didn't even have the decency to look at Hardison.

Hardison rolled his eyes and said, "Sure, no problem."

Then he left, hoping that working with Nate wasn't going to be like this all the time.


End file.
